4 ms·

From the article: "Recently legal scholars have started looking harder at such fields, hoping to find mechanisms that can support innovation without the cost a

by pmccool 16y ago

From the article: "Recently legal scholars have started looking harder at such fields, hoping to find mechanisms that can support innovation without the cost and complexity of conventional intellectual property law, and wondering how broadly those alternative mechanisms might be applied." Honest question: how much innovation is there in this field? Is there a steady stream of new magic tricks? Assuming there is, and I have no idea one way or the other, it might serve as a interesting counterexample to the claim that patent laws are essential to innovation. The extralegal protection system they've developed - essentially a guild system - doesn't seem like a terribly promising candidate for broad application. Among other things, it's more effective than the patent system at stopping ideas getting into the public domain, ever. Whatever its other drawbacks, a patent means an idea will eventually make its way into the public domain. edit: grammar

corruption 16y ago
There is surprisingly a lot of innovation going on in the field - "magic" is a broad field though - could be anything from stage to mentalism on the street. Yigal Mesika has done a lot in the field recently, check out his website www.yigalmesika.com Very cool stuff to play with.
gnosis 16y ago
"Honest question: how much innovation is there in this field? Is there a steady stream of new magic tricks?" There's a huge amount of innovation going on in magic, and there are new tricks coming out all the time. Especially with the advances in technology and science these days, there are a lot of fresh effects being developed constantly. Of course, many of those tend to be new approaches to old problems: a new method to levitate something, a new way to make something disappear or reappear, etc.. Some magicians prefer to stick with the tried and true, century-old (or even millennia-old) tools and techniques. But others (especially the younger generation) really embrace new developments and new technology. There's a real thirst for making one's act fresh and original, and for amazing the audience with things they've never seen before. And magic suppliers and magicians are constantly developing new products to fill those needs. "The extralegal protection system they've developed - essentially a guild system - doesn't seem like a terribly promising candidate for broad application. Among other things, it's more effective than the patent system at stopping ideas getting into the public domain, ever. Whatever its other drawbacks, a patent means an idea will eventually make its way into the public domain." If a patent is of something truly original and of something that really would not have been easily developed by someone else, then yes, patents could potentially have value to the public. But unfortunately, patents are constantly granted for things which are really obvious and for which prior art existed, or which would have easily been developed anyway as soon as anyone with half a clue set their mind to it. Also, at least in the case of the fast-paced computer field, by the time patents expire the technology that was patented is often completely obsolete and useless. Who really cares if the patents on punch card technology has expired by now? We've moved far beyond that to the extent that it's useless. This isn't quite true in the magic world, where ancient tricks still retain the ability to shock and amaze people who've never seen them before. Of course, there are fads in magic, and certain tricks become so popular that they're useless... for a period of time, until someone rediscovers them again. And, despite the best efforts of magicians, there are many many copycats. A hot new trick will often be duplicated and reverse engineered in no time.
Mc_Big_G 16y ago
Honest question: how much innovation is there in this field? I just heard Penn, from Penn and Teller, talking on The Bob and Tom radio show this morning. He said they worked for an entire year on a new trick where Teller would walk on a stream of water coming out of a fire hose with audience members standing around him like disciples. Apparently they solved the problem of creating the illusion, but were ultimately thwarted by the problem of what to do with the thousands of gallons of water. He said they spent a lot of time and money on experts trying to address this problem, but to no avail. So, despite failing, it sounds like there is innovation going on in this field.
grandalf 16y ago
An easy way to keep up to date on what's new in magic via RSS: http://www.penguinmagic.com/newproductsfeed.php http://www.penguinmagic.com/newproductsfeed.php edit... there is also an html version: http://www.penguinmagic.com/newarrivals.php http://www.penguinmagic.com/newarrivals.php

by pmccool 16y ago

corruption 16y ago

There is surprisingly a lot of innovation going on in the field - "magic" is a broad field though - could be anything from stage to mentalism on the street. Yigal Mesika has done a lot in the field recently, check out his website www.yigalmesika.com Very cool stuff to play with.

gnosis 16y ago

"Honest question: how much innovation is there in this field? Is there a steady stream of new magic tricks?" There's a huge amount of innovation going on in magic, and there are new tricks coming out all the time. Especially with the advances in technology and science these days, there are a lot of fresh effects being developed constantly. Of course, many of those tend to be new approaches to old problems: a new method to levitate something, a new way to make something disappear or reappear, etc.. Some magicians prefer to stick with the tried and true, century-old (or even millennia-old) tools and techniques. But others (especially the younger generation) really embrace new developments and new technology. There's a real thirst for making one's act fresh and original, and for amazing the audience with things they've never seen before. And magic suppliers and magicians are constantly developing new products to fill those needs. "The extralegal protection system they've developed - essentially a guild system - doesn't seem like a terribly promising candidate for broad application. Among other things, it's more effective than the patent system at stopping ideas getting into the public domain, ever. Whatever its other drawbacks, a patent means an idea will eventually make its way into the public domain." If a patent is of something truly original and of something that really would not have been easily developed by someone else, then yes, patents could potentially have value to the public. But unfortunately, patents are constantly granted for things which are really obvious and for which prior art existed, or which would have easily been developed anyway as soon as anyone with half a clue set their mind to it. Also, at least in the case of the fast-paced computer field, by the time patents expire the technology that was patented is often completely obsolete and useless. Who really cares if the patents on punch card technology has expired by now? We've moved far beyond that to the extent that it's useless. This isn't quite true in the magic world, where ancient tricks still retain the ability to shock and amaze people who've never seen them before. Of course, there are fads in magic, and certain tricks become so popular that they're useless... for a period of time, until someone rediscovers them again. And, despite the best efforts of magicians, there are many many copycats. A hot new trick will often be duplicated and reverse engineered in no time.

Mc_Big_G 16y ago

Honest question: how much innovation is there in this field? I just heard Penn, from Penn and Teller, talking on The Bob and Tom radio show this morning. He said they worked for an entire year on a new trick where Teller would walk on a stream of water coming out of a fire hose with audience members standing around him like disciples. Apparently they solved the problem of creating the illusion, but were ultimately thwarted by the problem of what to do with the thousands of gallons of water. He said they spent a lot of time and money on experts trying to address this problem, but to no avail. So, despite failing, it sounds like there is innovation going on in this field.

grandalf 16y ago

An easy way to keep up to date on what's new in magic via RSS: http://www.penguinmagic.com/newproductsfeed.php http://www.penguinmagic.com/newproductsfeed.php edit... there is also an html version: http://www.penguinmagic.com/newarrivals.php http://www.penguinmagic.com/newarrivals.php